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Seatbelt Failure & Defect Attorneys

Fighting for Victims of Auto Defects Nationwide Since 1969

Despite having ample headroom, the driver of this vehicle was rendered
quadriplegic when her shoulder belt failed to properly lock and allowed
her head to strike the windshield header during a rollover.

When it works properly, the seat belt is indisputably the most important
safety device in an automobile. When it works poorly or when a sealtbelt
completely fails to work, it can cause
serious injury and even
death. If you or a loved one was injured in a car accident due to the failure
or defect of a seatbelt, you may be able to seek compensation. You or
your family should not have to consequences because of a poorly manufactured
car product.

If you have reason to believe that your injury was caused by seat belt
failure, turn to the very knowledgeable auto product liability lawyers
at The Gilbert Law Group. For
almost 50 years, the firm has been fighting for the rights those injured all across the
nation. They know how to build a solid case and how to handle the process
of a personal injury claim involving a defective auto product. They understand
what you are going through and should not have to worry about how to gather
evidence, insurance companies, or manufacturers to call while you are
healing from an injury. Instead, put your trust in one of the
Top 100 Trial Attorneys in the U.S.!

When to Suspect a Seat Belt Failure

Seat belt performance and potential effectiveness is highly dependent upon
the facts of an individual accident. While it is difficult to generalize,
the following facts, if present, might indicate a seat belt problem and
could be reason to hire a seatbelt failure lawyer:

Both serious and non-serious injuries to belted occupants. For example,
if one belted occupant walks away while another belted occupant is paralyzed
or suffers a serious head injury.

An injured occupant is found wearing a loose-fitting seat belt. This could
indicate the presence of excess slack.

An occupant is found un-belted but either the occupant or other passenger
insists he or she was seat belted. This could indicate inertial unlatching
or false latching.

An occupant in a frontal collision makes contact with the windshield. This
might indicate the presence of excess slack or retractor failure.

A seriously injured belted occupant in a vehicle with limited structural
damage. For example, if there is limited roof crush and limited intrusion
into the occupant compartment during a rollover yet a belted occupant
sustains head or neck injuries.

Serious injuries in a minor to moderate collision. When a restraint system
works properly, occupants typically should not receive serious injuries
in minor or moderate speed collisions.

The seat belt webbing is torn or ripped or the seat belt is pulled loose
from its anchors. This could be indicative of either a seat belt defect
or some other type of vehicle defect.

Evidence that a seat belt failed because of design or manufacturing defects
is often subtle and can be difficult to detect. If a belt failure is suspected,
the most important thing to do is preserve the vehicle and the seat belt
system since it is extremely difficult to prove that a seat belt failed
without the physical evidence.

In an interview with Ward Lucas of Denver’s 9News Jim Gilbert shared
his opinion on the issues in the investigation into race legend Dale Earnhardt’s
tragic death. As a racing enthusiast and
auto product liability attorney deeply involved in accident investigation, he believes a full faced helmet
could have prevented the fatal injuries caused by the failure of a safety harness.

Earnhardt’s son was in a similar accident a week after his father’s
and survived because his belt did not fail. Jim discounted a report by
an investigator appointed by a Florida court that these safety features
did not contribute to Earnhardt’s fatal injuries.

“What does the public take away from this? That seat belts don’t
make a difference? They do, they make a tremendous difference.”
-Jim Gilbert.

What Actually Happens During a Car Accident?

The “first collision” occurs when the vehicle impacts another
vehicle or a fixed object.

The “second collision” occurs when a vehicle occupant impacts
the interior of the vehicle or is ejected and hits the ground.

The second collision immediately follows, often only by milliseconds, the
first collision. The purpose of a seat belt is to either prevent the second
collision or minimize its injury-producing potential. A snug fitting lap
and shoulder belt “ties” the occupant to the passenger compartment
and allows him or her to “ride down” the crash, thereby minimizing
or eliminating injurious occupant contact with the vehicle interior, such
as the windshield, steering wheel or the roof.

What Causes Seatbelts to Fail? Here are 8 Common Defects

Seat belts cannot immunize us from injury in a collision. However, in a
significant number of cases, the injury would not have occurred but for
a defect in the seat belt system. Seat belts fail to restrain occupants
due to both poor design and faulty manufacturing. Some of the more common
defects include:

1) Inertial unlatching & false latching.

Inertial unlatching occurs when the seat belt becomes unlatched during
a collision, allowing the latch plate to pull out of the buckle. Though
the auto industry denies that a seat belt can inertially unlatch, recent
testing has demonstrated how accident level forces can cause the buckle
“pawl” or button to depress and release the latch plate. Millions
of vehicles have seat belts that are susceptible to this phenomenon.

False latching occurs when the latch plate looks, feels and even sounds
like it is latched when inserted into the buckle but is not fully engaged.
Minimal amounts of force will cause a falsely latched buckle to completely
release the latch plate. When a seat belt is falsely latched or becomes
inertially unlatched, the occupant is essentially un-belted and unrestrained
and moves as though he or she were never belted in the first place. Such
occupants are frequently ejected or found un-belted inside the car.

Though the occupant was properly belted before the seat belt became unlatched,
the police report will often list the occupant as being unrestrained.
Cases involving inertial unlatching or false latching frequently arise
when either a surviving occupant insists he or she was belted or when
other occupants confirm that the deceased occupant was wearing a seat belt.

The seat belt of this vehicle ripped in half during a frontal collision.
The occupant was rendered quadriplegic when she struck the steering column.

2) Torn or ripped webbing.

When the seat belt tears or is ripped in half during an accident, something
has probably gone terribly wrong. Seat belt webbing is designed to withstand
the forces of most survivable collisions without ripping or tearing. Torn
or ripped webbing might occur because of a defect or manufacturing flaw
in the webbing itself, such as material or weaving deficiencies.

Ripped or torn webbing might also be the consequence of some other vehicle
defect. Any seatbelt defect that allows excessive slack or payout of the
webbing can cause the belt to be “snap-loaded” – loaded
too rapidly, which can sever the webbing. Sharp or protruding edges of
vehicle components can also cut through the seat belt. In one recent case,
a bending belt anchor moved the belt into contact with a sharp seat support.

This seat belt was severed during a frontal collision when it came into
contact with a sharp edge exposed on a front seat that deformed during
the accident. The driver was left quadriplegic and brain damaged when
he impacted the steering column.

3) Retractor failure.

During an accident, the seat belt retractor “locks” the seat
belt webbing and holds the occupant in place. When the retractor fails
to properly lock, excessive webbing “pays” out of the retractor
and results in seat belt “slack.” Sometimes as little as a
few inches of “slack” can mean the difference between an injury-free
event and
catastrophic or
fatal injuries. In a frontal collision, for example, a snug shoulder belt should restrain
the occupant in the seat and prevent injurious contacts with the steering
wheel and windshield. A slack or loosely fitting shoulder belt might allow
the occupant to move forward and contact these objects.

(Left) Under normal driving conditions, the pendulum and lock bar are in
the rest position. The sprocket that holds the seat belt is free to rotate.
As the occupant leans against the webbing, the seat belt unreels.
(Right) During an accident, the pendulum tilts and forces the lock bar
into the sprocket. The sprocket locks and the seat belt restrains the occupant.

Retractors can fail to lock because of design defects as well as auto manufacturing
defects. One failure mode of certain “direct drive” retractors
is a phenomenon known as “skip-lock” or “skipping”
– which occurs when the retractor lock bar hits the tip of a ratchet
tooth and bounces away instead of engaging the root of the tooth and locking
the webbing. Auto manufacturers vehemently deny that skip-lock can occur,
but it has been documented in the literature as well as in General Motors’
internal research projects.

Skip-lock or skipping occurs when the occupant begins to load the webbing
but the lock bar fails to engage a sprocket tooth. During the skipping
process, the lock bar will sometimes make contact with the tips of the
sprocket teeth in what is known as a “tip to tip” condition.
As the sprocket teeth skip over the lock bar, webbing “pays out”
of the retractor resulting in seat belt slack. As little as a couple of
inches of slack can result in catastrophic injuries. A close inspection
of the teeth after an accident might reveal forensic evidence of skipping
in the form of scrapes or small gouges on the tips of the teeth.

4) “Windowshade” devices.

Most U.S. cars manufactured from the late-1970s to the late 1980s contained
a “tension-relieving” device in the retractor, which, by design,
introduces slack into the shoulder belt. These so-called “windowshade”
devices operate much like a household windowshade – when the belt
is pulled out of the retractor, the device engages and the belt remains
in its new position.

One consequence of the windowshade design is the inadvertent formation
of excessive amounts of seat belt slack. By design, windowshade retractors
permit occupants to intentionally introduce slack into the shoulder belt.
Occupants can also unknowingly introduce slack into the shoulder belt
by moving forward to reach for the radio or other items. As mentioned,
slack undermines the effectiveness of a seat belt in an accident and can
result in severe head impacts with the steering wheel, dashboard or windshield.

In a car equipped with a windowshade device, the simple act of reaching
over to the glove box can cause the inadvertent formation of large amounts
of seat belt slack. This causes injury and death during an accident by
allowing the occupant to strike portions of the vehicle interior with
great force.

The large arc created by a floor-mounted belt anchor can cause excessive
occupant excursion toward the roof during a rollover.

5) Poor seat belt geometry.

Poor belt geometry can contribute to excessive occupant excursion, particularly
in rollovers. The best location for seat belt anchors is on the seat itself,
yet many vehicles have anchors located on the vehicle floor, often behind
the occupant’s seat. The resulting shallow belt angle can permit
excessive excursion toward the roof in a rollover. Poor D-Ring locations
can also adversely affect geometry and belt effectiveness. Adjustable
D-Rings have improved overall geometry but have only become popular in
more recent vehicles.

6) Vehicle “system” failure.

To be effective, seat belts must work in conjunction with the vehicle’s
seats and surrounding structure. If the seats fail or there is significant
roof crush or occupant compartment intrusion, seat belt effectiveness
is reduced. In many accidents, occupants are injured or killed due to
a combination of vehicle failures, such as excessive roof crush combined
with inadequate restraint by the seat belt.

These systems pose a slew of safety risks, including occupant ejection
when the door opens during a crash and severe spinal cord injuries when
an occupant with an automatic shoulder belt forgets to put on the manual lap belt.

8) Lap-only belt designs.

Though the benefits of utilizing a lap and shoulder belt have been known
for decades, shoulder belts were not included in the rear seats of most
U.S. cars until the late 1980′s. Lap-only belts can lead to fatal
or catastrophic injuries, including head, spinal cord and other internal injuries.